The Creativity Post: As parents and teachers, we are like gardeners when it comes to kids. They have within each of them the seeds of creative potential and we are responsible for providing the necessary elements so that they may fully grow and blossom. Creative potential is defined by what is possible for that individual, not necessarily by their current performance at home or at school.
Are we allowing kids to realize their full creative possibility?
6 comments:
This finding doesn’t surprise me at all. K-12 education in the United States tends to be very rigid. And for the most part, especially before high school, it is less about coming up with ideas and more about absorbing and repeating information. Yes, you have to make the occasional poster, but the purpose is rarely coming up with new ideas. I don’t really remember group work being as big of a thing in my elementary school experience as they are describing in this article. We typically were expected to work alone. I do remember being expected to work through math problems in groups as really annoying because I couldn’t really think and discuss at the same time. I could do the problems on my own and then ask questions if I got stuck/ answer questions if I could if others got stuck or if we were both stuck try to work through a specific section of a problem together, but the idea of doing the entire problem set as a group always felt absurd. That isn’t really about creativity though. I think in general the problem is inflexibility. I like the idea of projects where students can decide whether or not to work in a group, and in general more opportunity for students to learn more about what interests them and apply concepts to come up with ideas rather than just needing to know a series of facts.
From third grade all the way through my senior year in high school I competed in Odyssey of the Mind, which is a creative problem solving competition. You work in a small group of 5 to 7 other kids. This was the best possible thing for me. I was very much a student this article describes, I was very creative, but would not be in school because I didn't like the classroom setting, and working with groups of people who I didn't really feel comfortable with I was very quiet. However, when doing projects by myself, like writing, I would be very creative. I hate to think that school crushes the imagination of children, but I know from experience it does, and I don't know if that can ever really be stopped. I do really wish every single school had an Odyssey program, because it helped me so much learn how to direct all my creative energy and work in groups when I felt comfortable.
It is interesting and true that some kids have a hard time being creative in school, which is where they spend most of their time. School is mostly focused on more academic classes, where it can be hard to be creative if there is not a specific project dedicated to being creative. The force of group projects is also a problem when it is overdone. Yes it is important for kids to learn how to work together in groups and collaborate, but that can be very difficult for kids that like to work alone and do not feel comfortable speaking up in a group. If someone has a good idea but other people in their group are overpowering them, they will most likely not speak up and never get to express their creativity. This can hurt them in the long run if they do not think their ideas are good and they may stop trying to come up with different and creative solutions.
School stifles creativity??? And it’s only getting worse??? What a shock. Now if only the public education system would do something about it. The idea that kids can be creative at home, and that school is for learning, is incredibly damaging. Not every student is privileged enough to have the time, space, or supplies to really foster their creativity at home. Having public schools place an emphasis on creativity in at least part of the curriculum serves to level the playing field a little bit. Especially in the later grades (middle to high school) there’s a sharp drop in the amount of time spent on creativity. I know in a lot of my classes in high school, I felt like I was just memorizing things and spitting them back out during the test. And then I would forget what I had memorized as soon as the test was over. I can only hope that as a whole, the educational system starts making some changes, or else they’ll be churning out robots in the next decade.
I read a really interesting article about how the modern school system is set up to make good factory workers. The method of teaching has not changed substantially since the industrial revolution. The modern economy and what are considered “good jobs” are all about being creative. In 2002, Richard Florida identified the Creative Class as the new social class that will climb to the top. Pittsburgh Public Schools are starting an innovation program. I don’t remember the details, but the program aims to allow kids to explore and make hypothesis about the world. I hope that all modern school systems will begin to see that creativity is at least as important, if not more so, than being able to recite things by rote.
I loved this article, for myself going through school I often found this to be the case. Only when I was able to be involved in some creative aspect everyday along with my regular classes did I begin to thrive and grow as an individual. When I wasn’t involved on some creative pursuit all my other subjects and passions not only improved but skyrocketed. Every student needs to be doing something they enjoy, it makes doing the things they don’t like easier. For some that might be sports or reading, which tends to be more commonly provided for. The arts and creative passions are usually less available or given less importance, mostly because they are usually of greater worth internally than externally.one thing they said in this article was “The desire to work alone or with one other person is a personal preference, not a deficiency” which is something I have always thought but was good to hear it from another source.
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